By the fall of 1964, the Mustang had proven to be a sales hit for Ford, yet the automaker struggled to fit the car into its “Total Performance” image. For help, Ford turned to Shelby American, hoping the Cobra manufacturer could work its magic on the Mustang. The result was the Shelby G.T. 350 Mustang, which debuted in 1965 and went on to capture (in G.T. 350R form) consecutive SCCA B-Production championships in 1965, 1966 and 1967. Next year marks the G.T. 350’s 50th anniversary, and the 2015 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion will pay tribute to this milestone Mustang with a dedicated race group and special paddock displays.

In late October 1964, Ford delivered three Mustang fastbacks equipped with 271-horsepower, 289-cu.in. V-8 engines and four-speed manual transmissions to Shelby American, for development of a racing variant. Ten weeks later, a team that included Cobra racer Ken Miles, designer Peter Brock and project engineer Chuck Cantwell delivered the first G.T. 350R, which reportedly produced between 350 and 375 horsepower in competition trim. Among its innovative features was a Brock-designed plastic rear window, which not only saved weight but added five MPH to the car’s top speed via an incorporated vent.

The G.T. 350R’s racing success drove sales of both Ford Mustangs and Shelby street cars, which were slightly detuned compared to their racing brethren. Street-going G.T. 350s still produced a reported 306 horsepower, thanks to modifications like a high-rise intake manifold and low-restriction side-exit exhausts. To beef up the rear end, the Mustang’s original axles were replaced with stouter units from the Ford Galaxie, while larger rear drum brakes and Kelsey Hayes front disc brakes shortened stopping distances. To improve weight distribution, the battery was repositioned to the trunk, while the spare tire was mounted in the cabin, where the rear seat had previously been located. Largely unchanged between street cars and race cars was the suspension, as SCCA competition rules allowed for powertrain modifications or suspension modifications, but not both.

The street-legal 1965 G.T. 350s were little more than (slightly) detuned race cars, with little thought given to occupant comfort. That began to change in 1966 with the introduction of such amenities as a broader color palette, an optional rear seat and an available three-speed automatic transmission. Each successive generation of Shelby G.T. 350 seemed to grow larger and plusher, but still retained a focus on performance and handling; Ford’s latest version of the Shelby GT350, due to debut in 2015, brings the model back to its track-centered roots.

1965 Shelby G.T. 350. Photo courtesy Ford Motor Company.

In addition to the planned race group of 1965-’72 Shelby G.T. 350 models, Ford will be on hand at the 2015 Monterey Motorsports Reunion to mark the car’s anniversary with a special paddock display that highlights the history of the car and its racing successes. Expect the new version to be prominently displayed, too; in the words of Jim Farley, Ford’s executive vice president of global marketing, sales and service, “We couldn’t be more excited to be able to share one of the most iconic performance Mustang nameplates – the Shelby GT350 Mustang – with all of the Shelby enthusiasts and race fans at next year’s Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion. The new GT350 is a true testament to its heritage and builds on Carroll Shelby’s commitment to performance and racing, and we look forward to celebrating the car’s 50th anniversary and marking it with great racing next summer.”

Bobby Rahal is no stranger to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. An Indy 500 winner as both a driver (in 1986) and a team owner (in 2004), Rahal is used to spending most of May at the track, and this year will be no exception. In addition to preparing for this year’s inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis on May 10 and Indy 500 on May 25, Rahal will show two of his classic cars at the Speedway’s Celebration of Automobiles, to be held in conjunction with the May 10 race.

Rahal’s collection of vintage automobiles, kept at his garage at the Autobahn Country Club in Joliet, Illinois, consists mainly of cars that Rahal had a passion for (but no money to purchase) in his youth. It’s an eclectic assemblage, containing everything from a Mini Moke to a BMW 3.0 CSL to a 427-powered Shelby Cobra, though it’s surprisingly heavy on fun and (relatively) affordable cars like the Volkswagen Beetle Convertible, the Mini Cooper S and the BMW 2002 Tii . There are “bookend” race cars as well, including the 1964 Elva-Porsche raced by his father (and the car in which Rahal began his career) and the 1998 Reynard 98i in which Rahal ended his CART career at the end of the 1998 season.

He’ll bring two of his favorite cars to this year’s Celebration of Automobiles, including a 1961 Jaguar E-type convertible and a 1965 Shelby G.T. 350. Rahal calls his first model year Jaguar, “the purest of the breed,” saying, “I’ve always felt that the E-type Jaguar may be the sexiest car ever built. In fact, Enzo Ferrari claimed the E-Type Jaguar, when it started in 1961, was the most beautiful car he’s ever seen, and that means something when he says that.”

Rahal’s Shelby G.T. 350 has a bit more of a story to tell. The fourth-to-last car built by Shelby American in 1965, the modified Mustang remained under the care of its first owner for 35 years. Care is a relative term, since the Shelby was stored outside, uncovered, in Riverside, California. Rahal learned of the car through a friend, and upon inspection, realized that he was looking at an original, numbers-matching example. Time and sunlight had dulled the Wimbledon White paint and erased the Guardsman Blue stripes, but the car’s authenticity and one-owner history made it irresistible to Rahal, who purchased the Shelby and promptly commissioned its restoration.

Of his car collection, Rahal said, “It’s fun for me to be able to experience these cars firsthand, to drive them, to look at them and to be able to appreciate them for what they represent, and I’m looking forward to sharing some of that for all those who attend the event.”

Now in its fourth year, the Celebration of Automobiles honors cars built between 1910 and 1970. This year’s event will highlight cars constructed in Indiana, and for the first time will also honor motorcycles built between 1910 and 1970. Al Unser will serve as honorary head judge for the vintage and classic car show on Saturday, May 10, but the Celebration of Automobiles will also include a welcome reception on Thursday, May 8, driving tours and an owner’s lounge on Friday, May 9, and the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis (held on the newly constructed infield road course) on Saturday.

John Chun, an industrial designer who began his automotive career with the “dream job” of sketching design proposals for Shelby American, died on Saturday, July 6.

For years, Chun was known to friends and neighbors only as the friendly proprietor of the Chun Mee Chinese Restaurant in Delano, Minnesota. In 2010, while cleaning out the basement of his house in nearby Mound, Chun came across old drawings from his former time as an industrial designer and, with his wife Helen’s encouragement, decided to display them in the restaurant. Customers soon asked why Chun’s signature was on drawings of iconic Shelby Mustangs, and with that the Korean engineer’s past quickly elevated him to near-celebrity status.

Born the son of an engineer in what would become North Korea, Chun emigrated to South Korea following the conclusion of hostilities in 1953. By 1957, he’d followed a friend to the United States, initially settling near Sacramento, California. Despite holding an engineering degree from his native country, Chun soon realized that such a degree would do him little good in the United States, and returned to school (with limited mastery of the English language) to study engineering.

According to a 2011 profile of Chun in theDelano Herald-Journal, Chun proved to be an exceptional student, and at the insistence of a Sacremento Junior College professor, applied to the Art Center College of Design (ACCD) in Los Angeles. Accepted on the strength of his portfolio, Chun funded his studies by working as a mechanic for International Harvester. For seven years, Chun was both a full-time student and a full-time mechanic, but his payoff came in the form of a bachelor’s degree in industrial design (with a specialty in transportation design) from ACCD.

1968 Shelby G.T. 500, one of the models Chun helped to design.

Rejected by Ford as “too old” for a beginning engineer, Chun was instead hired by Fred Goodell, chief engineer for Shelby American (who’d ironically spent many years with Ford). Goodell immediately tasked Chun with producing concept sketches for the 1967 Shelby G.T. 350 and G.T. 500 models. Though Chun’s English was still somewhat limited, his rendering ability transcended any language barrier, and Shelby American moved Chun to Ionia, Michigan, in late 1967 to work with A.O. Smith on the 1968 Shelby models.

Chun remained with Shelby through late 1969, sketching drawings (sometimes “borrowed” permanently by Carroll Shelby himself) of G.T. 350 and G.T. 500 models in near anonymity. Unlike other engineers associated with Shelby (Goodell, Ford designer Pete Stacey, Charlie McHose, Joe Farrer), Chun has escaped mention in most books on the marque, aside from the odd footnote explaining that he was hired directly by Goodell.

Perhaps Chun’s biggest claim to fame at Shelby was the redesign of the company’s now-iconic coiled-cobra logo. Prior to Chun’s arrival, the Peter Brock-designed logo featured a frontal view of of cobra, fangs bared and hood spread wide. To Chun, it lacked menace, so he set to work designing a logo with a more accurate (and far more sinister) cobra. After six months of work, Chun’s idea for a coiled-cobra logo was approved, and Ford continues to utilize a variation on Chun’s original design to this day.

When production of Shelby G.T. 350 and G.T 500 models ended at A.O. Smith in 1969, Ford was among the first to offer Chun a job, according to a 2012 profile of Chun in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. By this time, however, Chun was an established designer, and Chrysler came to the table with more money, so Chun moved to Highland Park, Michigan, to work for Chrysler on such designs as the Dodge Charger and Plymouth Road Runner. It didn’t take long before others, outside the automotive industry, looked to take advantage of Chun’s talents, and in the early 1970s Chun moved to Minnesota to work for Tonka Toys.

John Chun’s design for the 1968 Shelby GT350. Image courtesy of KJC Design.

Chun’s resume also includes time as a contract engineer for appliance manufacturer Whirlpool and founder of consulting firm Trans Industries. On the automotive side, Chun contributed to the design of the Bradley GT II kit car, and was asked by Hyundai to consult on the design of a car for the North American market. (Hyundai ultimately rejected Chun’s ideas, instead favoring a collaboration between ItalDesign and Mitsubishi that would launch in Canada as the Hyundai Pony).

When his design background with Shelby American came to light a few years back, Chun became something of a celebrity within the Shelby community. In 2011, while recovering from treatments for stomach cancer, Chun received a call from Carroll Shelby himself, phoning to wish Chun a speedy recovery and to talk about the old days. Perhaps that’s proof enough that Chun’s role in the Shelby organization was more pivotal that previously documented.

An unusual 1969 Shelby G.T. 350 – said to have once belonged to former Shelby American Chief Engineer Fred Goodell – will cross the block at the D.E. Foeller Sales Collector Car Auction in Denver, Colorado, July 19-20.

What makes the car interesting is that it’s powered by a 351 Cleveland (rather than a Windsor) and the interior sports a Mercury Cougar XR7 dashboard – both of which are said to be original to this G.T. 350.

If you’re familiar with the Cleveland legend you know that Ford’s high-performance V-8 wasn’t installed in production cars until the 1970 model year. However, this pre-production engine is said to have been paired with this car for testing purposes and at one time was fitted with an experimental fuel-injection system (which is no longer in place).

The Ford-built 1969 Shelby Mustangs were known for being more luxurious than the Shelby American-prepared cars that preceded them, and this one is no exception with air conditioning, power steering, an automatic transmission and tilt wheel.

Always good to see a car being used as it was meant to be used, and this 1966 Shelby G.T. 350R for sale on Hemmings.com was certainly meant to be used on the race track. Whether an actual R model or simply a G.T. 350 restored to R model specifications (as the price would seem to indicate), it looks to be plenty of fun for the seasoned vintage racer. From the seller’s description:

Another year has whizzed past, leaving us to reflect on all the cars, people and events we covered in our print pages over the past 12 months. This year, we’ve decided to go back through our features and come up with ten of our favorites to recap. The criteria is varied, and may have something to do with the type of car, the story of its history, the process of its restoration, or perhaps a combination of all the above. Take a look at our picks and let us know if you think we’ve overlooked something from one of the 2012 issue of Hemmings Muscle Machines.

Issue #100, January 2012 – Milestone Muscle. The first issue of the year also worked out to be the 100th issue of Hemmings Muscle Machines, and we celebrated with several special features, including this one. Our intent was to chart a path of the significant models that influenced the direction of the factory performance era, or served simply as a high point. We figured some of our choices would spark a bit of debate, and we weren’t disappointed.

Issue #101, February 2012 – The Snake’s New Skin. Although modified cars make up just a small portion of the HMM editorial mix, this one really stood out. In a way, it combined elements from the extreme ends of the factory performance era that we tend to focus on, by combining a Ford Fairlane from 1957 with the drivetrain and suspension from a 2003 Ford Mustang Cobra. The result was a DOHC, 32-valve, EFI V-8 with a factory engineered supercharger setup, an overdrive manual gearbox and a fully independent suspension. We even got to drive it.

Issue #102, March 2012 – 1971 Buick GS Stage 1 convertible Restoration Profile. Our Restoration Profiles are a regular part of each issue, but some really stand out. This was one of them, not simply because the end result was a better-than-new Buick GS convertible, one of the 81 with the factory Stage 1 engine option, but because the players involved had taken the better part of two decades to reach that level of perfection. Buick specialist Keith Diabo found the car in good original condition in the mid-1980s, enjoyed it for a time and then passed it to Bob Lindquist, who embarked on the restoration with Keith’s shop. All parties involved say it would be hard to duplicate this effort, given that 20-plus years’ worth of gathering NOS items went into the project.

Issue #103, April 2012 – Charmed Lifer. The legend of Carroll Shelby and his automobiles burns brightly decades on, and for many car enthusiasts of various stripes, the AC Cobra is on the dream list. Imagine then, being able to say that you not only own a 289 Cobra, but that you bought it new. Joe Angeleri was just a college student when he spotted the Highlander Green machine in a New York City showroom back in 1964. It became his shortly after, and then, after using it as transportation for years and then leaving it sitting idle for decades, he restored it to show-dominating standards.

Issue #103, April 2012 – Track Only. More Shelby stuff from the tribute issue we did to mark 50 years of the marque. This piece on a G.T. 350R was interesting for a few reasons. First, it looked closely at how the Competition model, frequently referred to by enthusiasts as the “R model,” came to be. Then the story delved into the specifics of its development and what made it special. Finally, our feature car was actually used for the “Cobra Caravan” when new, which was a traveling display of all things Shelby during 1965.

Issue #104, May 2012 – 1970 Oldsmobile 4-4-2 Pace Car #1 Restoration Profile. This was another particularly interesting Restoration Profile, because the subject was the actual Indianapolis 500 Pace Car from the 1970 race. Owner Jeff Stolowski thought he was getting a good deal on a 1970 4-4-2 convertible when he bought it, and didn’t discover its history until afterward, at which point he committed to returning the car to its former glory. There was enough to discuss and illustrate with this story that we actually ran it in two parts; this was the first.

Issue #105, June 2012 – Scoop vs. Ornament. Every so often we run a comparison story between two cars that have been paired based on some shared common trait. In this case, both subjects were performance coupes from the 1965 model year. What made this a bit more interesting was that one half of the pairing was a car most would think of first for mid-1960s muscle: a GTO; the other was a less obvious choice, as Mopar intermediates hadn’t yet fully adopted a factory super car program. Instead, the 1965 Satellite was simply optioned with performance goodies like a 383 four-barrel and manual four-speed transmission. The surprise in this study was that the seemingly sedate Plymouth was actually quite capable, and at least as good, if not possibly better, than the four-barrel 389 GTO.

Issue #107, August 2012 – Judging the Distance. It was tough picking just one story from this issue, because our “Memory Makers” theme yielded several great tales from long-term owners. Our concept was to create a photographic timeline within each feature to show the car’s progression through the years. In the case of Winston McCollum’s 1969 GTO, there were many stages to illustrate, from its acquisition as a Crystal Turquoise convertible to becoming an inadvertent Royal Bobcat lookalike, to a Carousel Red Judge clone, to a “what if” Hurst Judge configuration and back to a stock Judge appearance, as it sits today.

Issue #108, September 2012 – One of…? It’s generally accepted among full-size Chevy enthusiasts that the division never offered the vaunted 425hp version of the 427cu.in. big-block engine as an option for the 1967 model year, despite the fact that the engine had been offered in the full-size line the year prior and after. So when Bill Wickman claimed to have a 1967 SS 427 with the L72 427/425, we were skeptical. Yet Bill had owned the car from 1979, and it appeared to have the original engine with the correct code. Then we were shown the Chevrolet dealership bulletin announcing the availability of the hi-po 427 mid-year. Could this be the missing link? We don’t know for certain, and neither does anyone else so far. Still, it’s a great car with an interesting story.

Issue #110, November 2012 – Volumetric Advantage. It’s fairly well known that Shelby built a handful of G.T. 350 models for 1967 fitted with Paxton superchargers. This wasn’t one of those, but was fitted with a Shelby-sourced supercharger kit at the dealership when new. Original owner Lloyd Hartline says he didn’t like the 1967 G.T. 500 because it was too nose heavy, and didn’t make enough power to justify its compromised handling. So he ordered a small-block G.T. 350 and had the dealer put the supercharger setup on to have the benefits of less weight and more power – brilliant, right? Well, there were issues, but fortunately, Ford had experts to sort it out, and all these years later, the largely unrestored Shelby still runs hard.

Issue #111, December 2012 – A Tale of Two Hemis. How often do you have the opportunity to get two similar Hemi cars together on a vacant runway? That was the offer rolled out to our staff when friends Joe Vischansky and Bill Spak contacted us. We were able to connect with the pair last fall, to compare and contrast the two first-year Hemi cars, one from Dodge and one from Plymouth. Bill actually ordered his Dodge new, and has kept it all this time, restoring it to stock a few years back. Joe, on the other hand, bought his Plymouth purely for parts back in 1981, but then started to think it might be worth saving. The result is a Hemi Belvedere moderately modified in a style that would be in keeping with trends of the late 1960s and early 1970s. We even got to drive each car to feel what a stock TorqueFlite-backed Hemi feels like next to a four-speed hot-rod version.

So is it or isn’t it? We all know automotive history isn’t always cut and dry, and there’s no better proof of that maxim than this 1966 Shelby G.T.350 for sale on Hemmings.com. A continuation car, it apparently carries Carroll Shelby’s endorsement and comes with plenty of documentation, but the Shelby Registry doesn’t recognize it. From the seller’s description:

The car is the last ’66 GT350 convertible Carroll Shelby ever commissioned. Shelby built four convertibles in 1966, twelve continuation convertibles with Beverly Hills Mustang in the 80s, and then this car in 1990.

The final run was prompted by The Shelby Collection, Venice California and given Carroll Shelby’s early blessing. Shelby’s right hand man, Lew Spencer oversaw the Project (it bares the signatures of The Shelby Collection owner, Lenny Shabes & shop foreman Kevin Seawright). It was assigned Serial Number SFM6S2393, in continuation.

Shelby was clearly involved with the car from the get-go, as he posed with the car (distinguished by its atypical Mustang front badging and modernized rollbar) for its official brochure (included in documentation), as well as several feature magazine articles (also documented and included with sale). One of these photos is still available for purchase on the Carroll Shelby Children’s Foundation website.

However, the story turns here, as there is no concrete evidence of an MSO with the car. Lenny Shabes was the first registered owner & has stated that he received an MSO from Shelby in 1990 and submitted the Original Certificate to California Motor Vehicle at time of registration. Others claim there was an internal feud. Due to a lack of an MSO, the Shelby American World Registry does not recognize it as an authorized car.

Fast forward a decade. Regardless of what happened with the MSO and whether Carroll Shelby originally distanced himself, he very clearly claimed the car repeatedly in the early/mid-2000s. Most recently, Shelby posed with the car again for photos, signed them, and signed the dash (reiterated with the Shelby VIN) of the car. Automotive journalist Jerry Heasley was on hand at the Shelby factory with the current owner to document this event where Carroll Shelby confirmed the authenticity of the “prototype” himself. Shelby also had some choice words for the Registry about their failure to recognize the car as authentic.

So the Shelby G.T. 350 turned 47 a couple of days ago; Shelby American is 50, and the April issue of Hemmings Muscle Machines has 16 pages of early Shelbys to celebrate. One of those features is on a 1965 G.T. 350 Competition story, and I have a photo of the Cobra Caravan to go along with it. It’s obviously at a car show somewhere north of the Mason-Dixon line (you can just read “auto show” on the marquee in the background). We’ve been studying it for a while now, though, and can’t come up with a location. There isn’t enough resolution to make out what the stop on the bus is (it probably just says “civic center,” anyway). Detroit and Chicago are leading guesses right now, but if you can ID this spot, let us know.

As the countdown continues to the grand opening of the LeMay – America’s Car Museum next April, and as a select few cars are already being transferred to the new facility, many more vehicles in the LeMay collection still sit in a warehouse-like setting, literally stacked one atop another, awaiting their day in the spotlight. John Lloyd, a.k.a. Hugo90, attended the collection’s open house a few months ago and has been sharing photos from that day ever since on the Hemmings Nation Flickr pool. One of the more bizarre cars he alerted us to was this 1967 Ford Mustang.

The story of the Mustang appears rather convoluted. Despite the Shelby schnozz on the car, it began life as a rather ho-hum San Jose-built Mustang hardtop coupe, fitted with a 200hp two-barrel 289-cu.in. V-8. (Shelby only built one documented coupe in 1967 – a G.T. 500 nicknamed Lil’ Red, which served as the inspiration for the Ford Mustang GT/CS.) At some point in its history, it and a 1968 Shelby G.T. 350 ended up in the hands of a Californian named Lindle Willey, who spent a considerable amount of effort installing a joystick control system in both cars. In the G.T. 350, it was merely added on – the stock steering wheel and pedals remained in place – but in the Mustang, the joystick system entirely replaced the stock steering system and pedals. At the same time, Willey installed in both cars “advance communication systems” that consisted of a few television screens, a phone and, apparently, a way for the joystick control system from the G.T. 350 to control the Mustang as well.

Willey apparently left the drivetrain in the Shelby alone, but swapped the 289 from the Mustang for an S-code 325hp four-barrel 390 that he converted to run on hydrogen, using some sort of hydrogen generator that he developed. Allegedly, the Mustang made the rounds on the alt-fuel circuit in the 1970s and 1980s, but we’ve yet to uncover evidence of it ever seeing the light of day during this time.

In fact, the next chapter of its history – and the one where the story takes a real bizarre turn – took place just five years ago, when Bob Ground, a member of SAAC Northwest, began to investigate rumors of the G.T. 350, located somewhere in southern Oregon. By then, it and the Mustang had been laid up for some time in the estate of Sandra Ann Falk, an aerospace engineer, helicopter pilot and founder of Motion Magazine who has been described both as Lindle Willey’s sister and as an alias for Lindle Willey himself. In either case, by June of 2006 both Willey and Falk had died, and Falk’s roommate, Sandra Soho, began to manage Falk’s estate. Ground’s account of his dealings with Soho makes for some entertaining reading.

The cars next turn up as a pair at the Bonhams American Car Museum sale, which featured lots from the LeMay collection, in September 2010. The G.T. 350 (which Soho had reportedly hoped to sell for as much as $250,000) ended up selling for $35,100; the Mustang (for which Soho wanted as much as $1.5 million) sold for $7,020, yet it remains in the LeMay collection – we’ve put a call in to the LeMay to inquire as to the circumstances of that sale.

If you know anything at all about American muscle cars, you know that the baseball hall of famer Reggie Jackson is part of the tribe. It’s not unusual at all to attend any high-end auction and spot Mr. October, the World Series legend, among the interested shoppers.

Here comes Reggie now to Auburn, Indiana, where Auctions America by RM will conduct its first Spring Collector Car Auction May 12-15. This time, he’ll be bringing something to sell, a 1965 Shelby G.T.350, chassis number SFM5S129, very yummy, like pretty much everything in his collection. The location is the famed Auburn Auction Park, Exit 126 off Interstate 69. Call 260-927-9797 or visit www.auctionsamerica.com for info, or to register as a bidder.